Cheng Yu said goodbye and left, but Cao Cao left Zhong Xuan behind, in the study, Cao Cao slowly paced with his hands, he didn't send someone to invite Zhong Xuan today, Zhong Xuan came by himself, of course, there was another matter, and Cao Cao also knew why Zhong Xuan came to find him.

Zhong Miao drank tea slowly, a little apprehensive in his heart, he felt that Cao Cao already knew why he came, if so, I am afraid that Cui Lin's matter was not Cao Pi's unauthorized act, Zhong Xuan's heart was cold, if it was really Cao Cao's consent, Cui Lin was afraid that it would be more auspicious.

At this time, Cao Cao stopped and seemed to be talking to himself: "What Cheng Junshi said just now is very right, I should contact Liu Bei and use Liu Bei to contain Liu Jing, maybe it will be better than Jiangdong." ”

Speaking of this, Cao Cao glanced back at Zhong Xuan, and said slowly: "How about asking the military advisor to make a hard trip to Jiaozhou?" ”

Zhong Xuan sighed for a while: "Thank you Duke Wei for your protection!" ”

Cao Cao laughed knowingly, Zhong Xuan was really very skilled, and he understood his own thoughts, and he pondered for a moment and said: "Some things are not as simple as the military advisor thinks, although I don't want Cao Wei to have another internal strife, but using Cui Lin to make a fuss is not just for the sake of the dispute between the sons of the world." ”

Zhong Xuan was silent, and Cao Cao sighed again and said: "The power struggle is a very cruel thing, especially when the power is handed over, I just want to be able to transfer power smoothly in the rest of the year, and I don't want to become Yuan Benchu's second again, I hope the military division can understand." ”

Zhong Xuan nodded lightly, "Weichen can understand!" ”

Cao Cao smiled with relief: "It's good that you understand, okay, let's talk about how to cooperate with Liu Bei!" ”

The carriage on the return journey was much slower, Zhong Xuan looked at the people coming and going on the street, but he was thinking about what Cao Cao said to him, 'Whether the Ding order can be implemented is related to Cao Wei's survival plan, if the Ding order fails, then Cao Wei will definitely follow in the footsteps of Jiangdong, and I hope to implement the Ding order in the remaining time." ’

"Some things are not as simple as the military advisor thinks, although I don't want Cao Wei to have another internal strife, but using Cui Lin to make a fuss is not just for the sake of the dispute between the sons of the world!" ’

Zhong Xuan sighed slightly, he finally understood why Cao Cao wanted to attack Cui Lin, the dispute between the sons of the world was just the appearance, but the deeper intention was to implement the Ding Order, Qinghe Cui's family is a famous family in the world, the family has a lot of land and tenant slaves, Cui Lin is the leader of the Shi clan after Yang Biao, and taking Cui Lin to open the knife undoubtedly played an example for the implementation of the Ding Order.

But it is the Cao family and the Xiahou family who really own a lot of land, Cao Cao does not start with his own clan, but he takes the Shi clan, how can he convince the people of the world, this will only push the Shi clan further to the Han Kingdom.

Zhong Xuan was very melancholy in his heart, he was not optimistic about Cao Cao's reform at all, a reform relying only on power, without the determination of a strong man to break his wrist, it is impossible to succeed, but he can understand Cao Cao's hardships, Cao Wei's army was controlled by the Cao family and the Xiahou family, in this case, how could Cao Cao touch the vital interests of these two families.

Zhong Xuan couldn't help but think of Liu Jing, he didn't have a huge family as a backing, in some cases, this is not a good thing, without the fetters of family interests, many things are much easier, maybe this is why Liu Jing is also more successful than Cao Cao in land reform.

"Master, will you go home first?" The carriage came to the intersection, and a housekeeper interrupted Zhong Xuan's train of thought.

Zhong Xuan thought for a while and said, "Go to the military office first, and then you go back and tell Mrs. Sù that I will go out tomorrow, so let her prepare now." ”

The carriage turned around and headed for the military headquarters not far away.

The full name of the military office where Zhong Miao's office is located is called the General's Mansion, and it is also the supreme command of the Cao Army, which is parallel to the Prime Minister's Mansion where Cao Pi manages government affairs.

The General's Mansion is usually governed by three military divisions, handling various daily affairs, sometimes Cao Pi will also come over, because Cheng Yu is old, he is no longer concerned with government affairs, mainly by Zhong Xuan and Liu Ye are responsible for the daily operation of the general.

Tomorrow, Zhong Xuan will send an envoy to Jiaozhou on behalf of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao will appoint Sima Lang, the chief bookkeeper, to temporarily take over his affairs, and he needs to hand over the affairs in his hand to Sima Lang.

As soon as the carriage stopped in front of the military office, an extremely burly man rushed out of the gate and went straight to Zhong Xuan's carriage.

"Stop!"

Zhong Xuan shouted, stopped the reckless family, he had recognized the person walking towards his carriage, it was the former general, Yuzhou Metropolitan Governor Xiahou Xuan, he saw Xiahou Xuan's face angry, so he pulled the curtain and smiled: "When did Yuan Rang return to Yedu?" ”

Xiahoudun restrained the anger in his heart and saluted Xiahoudun, "I just returned to Yedu early this morning, how is the military advisor?" ”

"It's alright! I just went to see Duke Wei, and I got a new errand, and I may have to go on a long trip. ”

Xiahou was stunned, at this time Zhong Xuan was actually going out, he hurriedly asked, "Where is the military advisor going?" When will you be back? ”

Zhong Xuan looked at the guards and family members on both sides, and said with a slight smile: "This is not the place to talk, please come to my official room to talk." ”

Xiahoudun followed Zhong Xuan into the official room, and the two sat down, and Zhong Xuan said: "Duke Wei asked me to send an envoy to Jiaozhou today to establish contact with Liu Bei. ”

Xiahoudun suddenly became anxious, "Now that the prince is making a big effort to suppress dissidents, but the military advisor is going to Jiaozhou at this juncture, isn't Gongzi Zhi going to lose everything?" ”

Zhong Xuan sighed secretly, it was rumored that the Cao family supported Cao Pi, and the Xiahou family supported Cao Zhi, now it seems that the rumors are true, even Xiahou Tang went into battle shirtless to run for Cao Zhi, it seems that their friendship is indeed extraordinary.

Zhong Xuan pondered for a moment and said: "Today I went to intercede with Duke Wei because of the raid of Cui's mansion, but now I have changed my mind, I decided to set off for Jiaozhou tomorrow, and I also advised Yuan Rang to return to Xuchang immediately, without the permission of Duke Wei, Yuan Rang left his post without permission, which will be caught, don't go wrong again." ”

"Why?" Xiahoudun asked in a deep voice.

Zhong Xuan knew that although Xiahou Xuan was a military general, he was extremely shrewd, and it was almost impossible to deal with him casually, so Zhong Xuan had to sigh and said seriously: "I only tell Sù Yuan Rang one sentence, what happened recently, Duke Wei knows that Cui Lin's matter is not as simple as the dispute between the sons of the world, but related to the Ding Order, listen to me, Yuan Rang immediately return to Xuchang, don't get involved in this matter again." ”

Xiahoudun understood what Zhong Xuan meant, if he angered the Duke of Wei, I was afraid that it would be his turn to issue the Ding order, and at that time, the prince would take the opportunity to fall into the well, and his military power would be difficult to protect, he sighed in his heart, got up and saluted: "Thank you for reminding the military advisor, I will return to Xuchang." ”

Not long after Xiahoudun returned to Ye, Cao Pi received the news, and he immediately ordered someone to find Hua Xin to discuss, Hua Xin had been appointed by Cao Cao as a servant, which was also Cao Cao's compromise with Cao Pi, in the Battle of Hefei, Cao Pi assumed the responsibility for the defeat and was removed from the post of general of the five senses.

As compensation for Cao Pi, Cao Cao reused several of Cao Pi's confidants, appointing Hua Xin as the servant, Wang Lang as the commander of Langzhong, Wu Zhen as the secretary of Dali Temple, and Cao Zhen as the backbone general and the governor of Huaibei.

This actually strengthened Cao Pi's power, and it was also to prepare for a smooth transfer of power, but for Cao Pi, the military power he most desired had not been obtained, and Cao Pi had no choice, he could only use another means to seize military power, that is, to make friends with the generals in charge of military power, especially the Cao family, Cao Ren, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu and others were the top priority of Cao Pi's wooing.

Seek benefits for them, expand military power for them, and gain their firm support, and for the Xiahou family who supported Cao Zhi, Cao Pi spared no effort, using his power to reduce the supply of grain and grass, reduce the quality of supplementary troops, and send strong recruits to Xuzhou and Qingzhou, while old and weak recruits were sent to Xuchang and Taiyuan, and so on.

Now Cao Pi has a new goal, that is, for Cao Zhen to seek the post of governor of Yuzhou, now Cao Zhen guards Huaibei and the area of Qiaojun, which already belongs to the scope of Yuzhou, but the military power is still far inferior to Xiahoudun, after the end of the Hefei campaign, Cao Ren euphemistically proposed this idea to Cao Pi, Xiahoudun can be transferred to Jizhou, and let Cao Zhen sit in Yuzhou, then Henan, Xu, Qing three states can be connected into one.

For Cao Pi, transferring Xiahoudun away will make Cao Zhi have no army support, eliminate the biggest hidden danger, and then use Cao Zhen to monitor and control Cao Zhi, then his position as Cao Pi's son will be completely secured.

Transferring Xiahoudun can not only strengthen the alliance with the Cao family, but also weaken Cao Zhi's power, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone, Cao Pi also worked extremely hard to promote this matter, and twice proposed to his father to transfer Xiahoudun as the governor of Jizhou, but his father did not react.

But today, Cao Pi heard that Xiahoudun had come to Yedu without authorization, and he realized that maybe this was an opportunity, so he immediately brought Hua Xin to discuss.

Hua Xin is a master of power and art, and he has a very high talent for power struggle, he is also Cao Pi's military advisor, and the arrest of the seventh son of Jian'an, as well as the copying of Cui's mansion, were all planned by him.

He knew how to grasp the proportions, and if he was going to do it step by step, he saw that Cao Pi was eager to bring down Xiahoudun, so he persuaded him: "Your Highness, don't be in a hurry, Xiahoudun's status in the army is too high, if you don't have absolute certainty, it's best not to act rashly, and the prince of Weichen Jian Yiì still concentrates on handling the Cui Lin case." ”

"But I think Xiahoudun came from Xuchang, I'm afraid it's just for Cui Lin's case, if he persuades his father, I will give up all my efforts." Cao Pi was still a little unwilling.

Hua Xin squinted and laughed, "Cui Lin's case is what Duke Wei meant, Xiahoudun is probably not clear, wouldn't it be better for him to anger Duke Wei, don't let the prince of Wei come forward, don't let Duke Wei see that the prince has the intention of seeking military power, once Duke Wei sees it, then it will be wasted, if Xiahoudun angers Duke Wei, I will persuade the prince to intercede for him." ”

Cao Pi realized something, he knew what he should do, and at this time, a guard reported at the door: "Qi Shizi, there is news from the military bureau that the governor of Xiahou has returned to Xuchang after talking with Zhong Junshi. ”

Cao Pi was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but be annoyed: "He ran quite fast!" ”

Hua Xin also breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "This should be Zhong Xuan who persuaded him to go back." ”

Cao Pi pondered for a moment and said: "I just got the news that this morning my father met with Zhong Xuan alone and sent him as an envoy to Jiaozhou, what do you think this means?" ”

"Wei Gong's meaning is obvious, this is to protect Zhong Xuan, but in fact, it is also a hint to the prince not to expand the impact area."

Cao Pi was a little puzzled, "If that's the case, why did my father imply that I attack Cui Lin?" ”

Hua Xin sighed, "The prince still doesn't understand, Duke Wei attacked Cui Lin, not for the sake of Gongzi Zhi, but for the matter of issuing the Ding Order, and the land and population issues are the big trouble for Duke Wei!" ”

Cao Pi's heart became heavy, his father refused to give up the order, and the pressure on his shoulders would increase again.

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